Last week the News Review reported on the April 4 court case of Beltsville resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and the protest that took place in Greenbelt surrounding his wrongful deportation to El Salvador. On Thursday, April 10, the Supreme Court upheld the District Court’s decision that the Trump administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. In her opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated, “the District Court should continue to ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.”
However, on Sunday, April 13 the Trump administration defiantly stated it was not required to engage in any return efforts. In filings in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, federal attorneys said that the Supreme Court ruling required the administration to return Abrego Garcia only if he is released by the Salvadoran government. They also argued that Abrego Garcia is “no longer eligible” for the protection from deportation that should have prevented him from being sent to El Salvador in the first place.
For weeks, members of the Trump administration have maintained that the deportation was an “administrative error,” but on Monday, some of President Trump’s advisors contradicted that statement on television. “He was not mistakenly sent to El Salvador,” said Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security advisor. “This was the right person sent to the right place.” Miller’s statement directly opposed the Supreme Court ruling, in which the judges stated the government itself had taken the position that the removal to El Salvador was “the result of an ‘administrative error.’”
On Monday, April 14, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele met with President Trump at the Oval Office and said he has no plan for returning Abrego Garcia. Currently, Abrego Garcia is being held in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, CECOT, a mega-prison where hundreds of other immigrants deported from the U.S. are confined.
“Of course I’m not going to do it,” said Bukele in response to a reporter asking if El Salvador’s government would release Abrego Garcia, adding that the question was “preposterous.”
Trump officials on Monday maintained their argument that Abrego Garcia is a member of the criminal gang MS-13, despite Abrego Garcia’s lawyers denying every claim and Judge Paula Xinis’ finding of no evidence of any gang affiliation.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, on Friday Xinis ordered the Trump administration to provide daily updates about what it is doing to get Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. – which it has failed to do. A hearing before Xinis took place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, at the Greenbelt District Court, where protestors again gathered in support of Abrego Garcia and his family.
On Monday, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D) said in a news release that if Abrego Garcia isn’t returned home by midweek, he would travel to El Salvador himself to discuss his release. “Since the Trump Administration appears to be ignoring these court mandates, we need to take additional action,” Van Hollen said.
Diya Shah is a student at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism interning with the Greenbelt News Review.
